


What Happens When Heroes Meet Their Fans

by Shane_for_Wax



Series: Holtzmann the ADHD Engineer [6]
Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, Flirting, Gen, Holtz is clueless about human interactions as usual, Patty does her best to navigate Holtzy's world, Sexual Harassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-11 09:31:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7885813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shane_for_Wax/pseuds/Shane_for_Wax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Holtzmann is naturally flirtatious but is rarely serious (or realizes how what she said could be construed as such). This gets her into trouble sometimes. Patty knows it's just part of who Holtzy is, but that doesn't mean she has to sit and take it when things get too far for comfort since Holtz can never figure out when to draw the line before it gets to a physical stage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place after the [Half Year Anniversary fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7818307) and around the same time as the one where [Holtz tries to bond with Kevin](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7837948). Also please be aware that there is some flirting that borders on sexual harassment but absolutely no cheating. Also I have no clue if they all live in the firehouse or still have separate places and I'm sure it's said somewhere I just can't find it so let me know! Separate apartments work a lot better for the things I write though.

If you had told Jillian Holtzmann she would become a national hero for busting ghosts and saving most of New York, she would have laughed at you. She didn't even expect to get famous for her work in the nuclear engineering field. But then suddenly she was a celebrity along with her three teammates. She thought that the fervor would die down after a few months but it seemed with each subsequent bust they got that much more attention. And Holtzmann frankly did not like a lot of attention. It is why she did her best to block out the outside world that the ADHD didn't cover. 

Well, so far she had celebrated her half year anniversary (Half-aversary as Patty had called it) and she still couldn't go anywhere without being accosted or called out to by complete strangers. 

At the moment she was quietly walking down the few blocks south from North Moore Street on to Chambers Street to her trusty hardware store who was a lot more cooperative than the one when she was working with Abby at the Kenneth P. Higgins Institute. Though she was not sure if it was because she was famous or they just were naturally customer satisfaction oriented. Her head was bowed, even though she knew that kind of posture made people think she was depressed or shy or even plain rude.

She nearly ran into someone at the entrance to the hardware store, which made Holtzmann look up. When she did, she caught sight of the other woman, hair a beautiful mahogany red. 

It took her about ten seconds to realize the woman was holding the door open, presumably for Holtzmann. The engineer took that as her cue to flash one of her radiant smiles. "Pretty people first," she said with a wink, gesturing towards the open doorway.

"Well thank you," the stranger said before walking inside. Holtzmann grinned as she followed shortly after, the door swinging shut. 

Once inside, Holtzmann made a beeline for the wiring aisle. She spent a good hour muttering to herself and sorting through everything to find what she needed. Once she had the proper wiring she had to fetch some sheet metal. She didn't see the woman from earlier anywhere but then Holtz wasn't exactly paying attention to her surroundings again. 

After paying with the card that had been issued to the Ghostbusters by the city of New York for purchases devoted to building better equipment to combat ghosts, it was then that the woman from earlier seemed to appear out of nowhere at Holtz's elbow, which made the engineer yelp in surprise. 

"I'm so sorry! I just-- I thought that was you! Jillian right?" the woman said as Holtzmann's purchases were packed away by the cashier. 

"I, um, go by my last name..." Holtzmann corrected softly.

"Right. Sorry again. But you guys went right by my apartment last summer and I'm so grateful you were there!" the nameless woman gushed. 

Holtzmann wasn't sure what to do. She couldn't leave just yet cause not everything she had bought was in bags. So instead she settled with giving another one of her smiles.

"Oh, hey, it was no problem. Just doin' our job y'know? Glad you weren't hurt." 

"Nope, all in one piece. Thanks to you."

Holtzmann had some vague idea that this woman was trying to flirt with her. But on the other hand, Holtz thought maybe she was just being really nice. Patty would know, she could tell those things 100x better than Holtz herself. 

"Ah, well, you're welcome! New York City is safe from ghouls so long as the Busters are around." 

"By the way, I'm Karen," the woman said, holding out her hand. Holtzmann looked down at the hand then back up at the woman. 

"Sorry, I don't shake hands."

Karen's face fell a little before she gave an understanding nod.

"No problem. Hope you're building something cool with all of that stuff," she said, nodding towards the cart that was piled high with items that threatened to spill over any second. 

"Oh yeah, super cool! Which, speaking of, I have to go now. Thanks for the support and the chat," Holtzmann said before making her hasty exit from the store. During the walk home as she didn't want to take a cab she kept looking over her shoulder for Karen. She breathed a sigh of relief when she entered the safety of the fire station turned Ghostbusters HQ. 

"Hey baby, you okay?" Patty asked after Holtzmann had unpacked the bags and put everything where it should go in her lab. It was right there when she realized she was actually vibrating a little thanks to her encounter that had given her a bad taste in her mouth for reasons she couldn't quite fathom.

Holtz raked her fingers through her hair before offering a smile. "Yeah, I just nearly ran into someone on the way here and was scared they'd go after me." 

Patty nodded at the explanation before carding her fingers through Holtz's hair too in a calming gesture before kissing the woman. "Well you're here and you're safe." Holtzmann offered a wide relieved smile. But of course she was safe, she had Patty and Abby and Erin. But especially Patty. 

The rest of the day went by normally, but without any busting required. Holtzmann had all but forgot her encounter earlier that day but Patty hadn't forgotten so she offered Holtzmann a ride home.

"You want me to stay overnight?" Patty offered, noting that Holtzmann was still on high alert, her back stiff and her eyes darting everywhere. 

"Ah, no, I think I can manage..." Holtzmann said even though everything inside of her was screaming to accept Patty's offer. 

"Alright, well, if you change your mind--"

"--I'll text you," Holtz finished. 

Knowing that was the end of that discussion, Patty just pulled Holtzmann into her arms and kissed the blonde softly. Holtzmann stiffened a little more but soon relaxed and hugged the woman in return and gave a soft peck of the lips. 

"I love you. Stay safe," Patty said finally after the silence had stretched beyond two minutes. 

"I love you too. Be careful out there." 

Once Holtzmann got within the safety of her apartment she collapsed to a sitting position on the floor just within the building, back pressed to the door she had come through.


	2. Flirt or Bust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karen meets Patty and the other Ghostbusters and no one seems to know exactly how to act or react to this woman and her obvious interest in Holtz, least of all Holtz herself but Patty definitely knows what she would _like_ to do but trusts Holtz.

Holtzmann wasn't sure when she had fallen asleep but she knew it had to be more than an hour. Noticing the time, she quickly got dressed and made her way to HQ. 

It was there that Karen was waiting around the entrance, as if waiting for Holtzmann herself given the Ghostbusters were open for business but she hadn't gone in. 

"Oh, hey, beautiful," Holtzmann greeted with a disarming crooked grin. She watched as Karen blushed at the compliment. "What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping to get your help. I've got something going on around my laundry room," Karen explained. 

"Why didn't you go inside yet?" 

"I figured you might want this." Karen held out a travel cup of coffee from Holtzmann's favorite cafe. Suspicion and anxiety ran through her but her smile didn't falter.

"Well thanks. Let's go inside and we'll talk about your issue," Holtzmann suggested as she opened the door and went inside. 

Patty and Erin were the first ones seen and Holtzmann assumed Abby was in the upper part of the firehouse.

"Who is that?" Erin asked immediately. 

"This beautiful specimen is Karen. She wants our help," Holtzmann said, getting right to the point. Did Holtz see Patty's eyebrows go up in her peripheral vision?

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Gilbert, Miss Tolan," Karen said politely but it was clear she was more interested in Holtzmann (clear to Patty at least). 

"Where's Abby?" Holtz asked. 

"Further back. I'll go get her," Erin said before turning and leaving down a short hallway. 

Holtzmann watched as Patty went and fetched her paper pad and a pen for writing down notes and for a second the engineer thought she saw Patty scowl at Karen.

All three of them waited in silence, and the awkward tension could be cut with a knife. In an effort to feel less antsy, Holtzmann wandered to a chair nearby to sit down and pulled out a tablet that had her latest and greatest design blueprints on it. It took a few moments for her to realize she was being watched but she used all her willpower not to look up.

"Found her!" Erin called out as she walked back to the front with Abby in tow. Holtzmann looked up this time despite herself, fighting to keep her face carefully neutral with just a simple smile of greeting rather than relief. 

She did her best to pay attention to Karen's predicament, but mostly she wasn't concerned by the whole little backstory that didn't give them anything that could help them fight the ghost. 

If there even was one, Patty was thinking nearby. She didn't think of herself to be much of a jealous person, and beyond that she trusted Holtzmann literally with her life (and knew the feeling was mutual many times over). But there was something about this Karen person that made alarm bells go off in her head that would be there if she had clearly been eyeing Abby or Erin the way she was Holtzmann. 

"Sounds like a class one to me," Erin was saying, oblivious to the thoughts of her two teammates and the fact Holtzmann was being extra non social and Patty wasn't writing nearly as much as she would be with any other case. 

"Is that bad?" Karen asked, blue eyes slightly wide under the mahogany hair that had been the first thing Holtzmann had noticed about her. 

"No, it is a very benign haunting. Also called poltergeist activity," Patty explained before Erin or Abby could answer given they were the ones who came up with the class system.

The silence stretched a bit longer than it probably should have. 

"So you can take care of it?" Karen asked, looking at Holtzmann as she spoke rather than Patty. 

Patty did her best to keep her temper in check. She was not normally a hot blooded type of person but she was getting damn tired of being brushed off. 

"Oh, yeah, yeah, no problem. You don't even need all of us. I bet Abby and Erin can take care of it for ya," Patty put in as Holtzmann was frozen and not sure how to handle this whole situation. Karen had no choice then but to look at the other three women. 

"Well that's good, very good. Maybe I'll finally be able to sleep tonight," Karen said, trying not to make it obvious what her ulterior motive was even though it was crystal clear to Patty. 

"Why don't you give us your address and a contact number and we'll see about stopping by tonight," Abby spoke up then, glancing quickly between Patty and Holtzmann. "Here, just text me." 

"...Oh. Sure thing! Thank you." Karen pulled out her phone to send her details to Abby. 

"I'll walk you out," Erin offered, noting the soft glare Patty was giving. Karen and Erin walked off together but not before Karen gave a million watt smile to Holtz. All Holtz could do in response was offer a small awkward smile and sink further into her spot. 

"You two gonna be okay?" Abby asked. 

"We're fine," Patty said, which just made Holtz shrink further. Abby looked between them, gave a sympathetic smile, then wandered off to her own part of the firehouse. 

"Patty, I didn't--" Holtzmann began as soon as they were alone.

"I know, baby. You gotta do you," Patty said, voice relaxed and soft. 

Holtz got to her feet then crossed the distance so she could throw her arms semi-awkwardly around the other's shoulders. She gave the taller woman a hug and a quick kiss.

Patty noticed Holtz was still holding on to the untouched coffee so she took it from the blonde and went to dump it out. No point taking any chances and she knew Holtz didn't drink coffee anyways as she always preferred soda if she was going to drink something with caffeine.

"I'm sorry," Holtzmann said. She had never intended any of that event. 

"Holtzy, I don't blame you. I love you and I trust you, baby girl."

"Next time I'll tell them I have a girlfriend."

Patty offered a smile before kissing the woman gently.

"You don't have to out yourself to everyone you meet but I appreciate the offer, boo."

"Emphasis on the boo?" 

Laughter escaped them both before Patty couldn't help but nod then kiss Holtz again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not quite how I envisioned this chapter but hey! I think this is the last one because I couldn't get anything else to get written. I had originally intended them all to go to the bust and stuff but recent stuff just took the air from my lungs as it were. Thanks for the patience and hope y'all will continue reading ADHD!Holtz stuff.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first multi chapter fic for this pairing and hopefully y'all aren't thrown off by it. I just felt it works better in chapters. it might only be two chapters but we will see yes? I somehow manage never to do exactly what I planned (given I only meant to write the one adhd holtz with neurotypical patty fic). As usual if you have any prompts for me for Toltzmann (or any of my other pairings found [ here on my tumblr blog](www.jacensolodjo.tumblr.com/ships)) feel free to post in a comment or send an ask to the previously linked blog.
> 
> And thanks again to everyone for their support. I still worry about having Holtz be adhd and/or that I am just being humored by the fandom (aka imposter syndrome). I know it is a niche head canon which is probably why not many are interested but that's ok.
> 
> Also if you would like to beta read the next chapter let me know!


End file.
